Saint Joseph’s needed 12 innings, 22 strikeouts and one final swing to secure its most complete performance of the young season.
Jack Saker lined a go-ahead single to center in the top of the 12th, scoring Jason Janesko, and Matt Speicher slammed the door in the bottom half as the Hawks edged Sacramento State, 5-4, Friday night at John Smith Field.
The win moves Saint Joseph’s to 2-3 and showcased both resilience and power pitching.
The game was scoreless through six innings thanks largely to Christian Coppola’s dominant first start in a Hawk uniform. The right-hander struck out 11 over five shutout innings, escaping repeated early traffic. Sacramento State loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, but Coppola responded by striking out the side. He followed with three more punchouts in the fifth to close his night.
Saint Joseph’s finally broke through in the seventh. After Alex Kelsey reached and advanced, Blake Primrose tripled to center. A misplayed relay allowed Primrose to score as well, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. The Hornets answered immediately with three doubles in four batters to tie it.
The Hawks appeared to seize control in the ninth when Janesko ripped a two-out double to score Primrose and Joey Pagano, pushing the lead to 4-2. But Sacramento State responded again, tying the game on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly before Speicher entered and struck out two to force extras.
From there, Speicher was unflappable.
The junior right-hander stranded two runners in both the 10th and 11th innings, finishing with seven strikeouts over 3 2/3 shutout innings to earn the win.
In the 12th, Janesko doubled with one out, and Saker delivered the decisive single two batters later. Sacramento State put the tying run in scoring position in the bottom half, but Speicher battled back from a 3-0 count to strike out Erick Dessens and end it.
Primrose and Janesko each had two hits, while the Hawk pitching staff stranded 17 Hornet baserunners in a gritty, extra-inning victory.
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